HomeMy WebLinkAboutrepdec14.pdfSeptember 16, 2015
Honorable Kate Supron
Board of Trustees
Village of Cayuga Heights
Monthly Report December, 2014
For the last month of the year we had 37 calls. There were 21 calls in the Village of Cayuga Heights, 12 calls
in the Town of Ithaca and 4 mutual aid requests. We had 23 EMS runs and 14 fire calls. It was a fairly
routine month until the end when we had a structure fire on Tarryton Drive in the Town of Ithaca. We were
dispatched to a report of a working fire with heavy fire involvement around 1:30 in the afternoon. While
units were responding we could see a large column of black smoke in the area indicating a fire that was well
off. Photos shown in the news the next day show the garage area of the house fully inv olved at the time of
our dispatch. First arriving units quickly determined all occupants of the house were out and we could
concentrate on suppression immediately. The fire was knocked down within 10 minutes of arrival and ,
except for overhaul, the fire was controlled within 30 minutes. Crews were on scene performing overhaul for
several more hours and then an engine stood by with the investigation team until around midnight. The
investigation team from the Ithaca Fire Department was unable to determine a cause of the fire. We received
mutual aid from the Ithaca, Lansing and Dryden Fire Departments. This was an amazing effort from our
members on a Monday afternoon during break for many of our members. We were able to respond all of our
apparatus and get the job done in a rapid manner. I am very proud of our department.
We ended 2014 with a total of 586 calls. We were up 31 calls from 2013. There were 287 fire and 299 EMS
responses. We responded to 318 calls in the Village of Cayuga Heights, 192 calls in the Town of Ithaca and
we were requested mutual aid 76 times. We received mutual aid from our neighbors 10 times through 2014.
We averaged 10.9 members per call throughout the year. Our average response time from dispatch to
apparatus on the road was 3 minutes with an average call length of 34 minutes. Our total man hours for the
year as 3226.41 hours spent on calls. These totals do not include all of the training hours or other hours spent
on community functions by members of the department. These are some remarkable numbers from a
volunteer department. The members of the Cayuga Heights Fire Department are an amazing and dedicated
group!
We did continue to train through the holidays. Many of our members head home for the month but before
they all left we had our annual Jeopardy Training. This is a great time for all the members. We split into
three teams with all levels of member on each team and then test general department knowledge using water
can fire extinguishers to buzz in for answers. It is usually pretty lively. Through the holiday we
concentrated on helping those in town with checklist work and driver training.
We are looking forward to Spring 2015 recruit class. We will be recruiting members through February and
running the recruit classes in March. Looking ahead to the spring of 2015 we are going to be graduating a
few key members of the department. We will spend the spring moving the recruits through the training
process but also concentrating on getting our current members through checklists and into interior status.
We hope that 2015 will prove as exciting and fulfilling as 2014 was. The members of this department will
continue to strive to provide top quality fire and EMS protection to our district.
Sincerely,
George Tamborelle
Fire Chief/Fire Superintendent